US stocks' net dividends increased by $16.05 billion in the second quarter! Alphabet's first dividend payment drives US dividend growth
US dividends increased by $16.05 billion in the second quarter, mainly due to Alphabet's first dividend distribution. Dividend payments for the S&P 500 Index in the second quarter increased by 1.2% compared to the first quarter, reaching $18.28 per share. A total of 539 companies increased their dividends, while 21 companies decreased their dividends. In addition, six major banks also raised their dividends by $3.5 billion. According to index analyst Howard Silverblatt, although the number of dividend increases has increased, it still lags behind the same period last year. It is expected that dividend growth will continue as the earnings season approaches
Intelligent Finance APP noticed that according to the data from the S&P Dow Jones Indices, the net dividend change of common stocks in the United States increased by $16.05 billion in the second quarter, compared to an increase of $16.03 billion in the previous quarter.
This growth is mainly due to Alphabet (GOOGL.US) starting to pay dividends for the first time. The owner of Google announced a dividend of $0.20 per share.
The report stated that Alphabet's dividend accounted for $9.3 billion of the second quarter growth, while the first-time dividends from Booking (BKNG.US), Meta Platforms (META.US), and Salesforce (CRM.US) in the first quarter of 2024 accounted for $7.2 billion.
Index analyst Howard Silverblatt said, "Compared to the previous quarter, the increase in dividends in the second quarter of 2024 has once again increased, but it still lags behind the same period last year, as companies continue to be cautious in committing to future payments."
On a per-share basis, the S&P 500 Index's second-quarter dividend payments increased by 1.2% from the first quarter to $18.28 per share. In the second quarter, dividends of 539 companies increased, while dividends of 21 companies decreased during the same period.
Silverblatt added that following the Federal Reserve's stress test results and the end of the first half of the year, six major banks including Bank of America (BAC.US), Citigroup (C.US), Goldman Sachs (GS.US), JP Morgan (JPM.US), Morgan Stanley (MS.US), and Wells Fargo (WFC.US) increased their dividends by $3.5 billion.
The report mentioned that with the approaching of the earnings season, Silverblatt expects to see more growth